This invention relates to an electric pressing iron and particularly to a pressing iron for household use.
One problem addressed by this invention is the need to provide a power cord connection which can meet the preferences of different users. Household irons have cord guards through which the power cords extend, the guards being used to guide the current carrying wire strands to their points of connection to the iron circuitry and to resist severe bending or twisting of the power cords where they enter the irons.
Many pressing irons have power cord attachments which are convenient only to right handed persons who use the irons and are awkward for left handed persons. Some have power cord attachments including cord guards that are assembled by the purchaser before use to one side or the other side of the iron as desired for the convenience of the purchaser. There are other irons having cord guards that are rotatable so that the user can move them from one side of the iron to the other. However, the known irons with rotatable cord guards mount the guards for rotation about generally vertical axes (i.e., axes nearly perpendicular to the bottom surfaces of their sole plates) so that care must be taken to avoid having the cord guards interfere with the placement of the irons on their heel plates or rear covers in vertical or upright resting positions. Cords mounted for rotation about vertical axes also cannot be positioned to extend upwardly from the center of an iron, a position which may be useful for avoiding having a cord drag across the material being ironed. U.S. Pat. No. 2,536,996, granted to Holland et al. on Jan. 2, 1951, discloses devices for attaching a power cord to an iron by which the power cord is mounted for rotation about a generally horizontal axis (i.e., generally parallel to the bottom surface of its sole plate) with detented stop positions on both sides of the iron. This renders the Holland et al. iron convenient for use by both right and left handed persons. However, the Holland et al. cord attachment structure requires relatively complex parts that would be expensive to manufacture and assemble. Further, it is so constructed that the power cord is twisted about its axis when moved from one side of the iron to the other.
A household pressing iron usually incorporates a heel plate or rear cover designed to be temporarily placed in a horizontal position on top of an ironing board while the iron is not in use. This places the iron and its sole plate in a generally vertical or upright orientation so that the heated surface of the sole plate will not rest on the ironing board. Ironing boards typically have a layer of padding underneath a top cover. The surface of the cover is, therefore, flexible and springy and may not support an iron of ordinary construction in a stable position.